James Brown Month: THINK

Of all the songs James Brown covered, he returned to none as many times in so many different ways as he did the "5" Royales 1957 classic "Think", written by the great Lowman Pauling.  Tracing versions of the songs gives us a window into the ever evolving Brown sound.

It's not hard to hear why this was such a fine tune for JB - the performance is mesmerizing, Pauling's guitar is great, the lyrics are fantastic both rhythmically and thematically - so many wonderful lines that shoulder and deflect responsibility for a broken relationship in such a smart way. And deflecting blame in a smart way was a JB specialty! "Think of all the bad things I tried not to do!" is just one of those lines that says it all.

Brown's initial single version, recorded in 1960, removes much of the melody and the finger-snapping stop-and-start rhythms from the tune and adds a great horn chart/riff, turns up the drums, and speeds it way up. The result is to my ears his first step towards creating funk - complete with Maceoesque sax solo.

The next version appears on Live at the Apollo, and is as wilder than the single version as the single version is from the "5" Royales, even as it interestingly reincorporates some of the elements from the Royales version JB's initial version jettisoned. Guitar returns to the mix to scratch out the rhythm (Les Buie really chanks it up), and the Flames clap along for dear life, since the speed of the thing is almost ridiculous. 

Next up came a single version in 1967, this time recorded in a duet with Vicki Anderson - slowed down and funked up, with a bit of "Money Won't Change You" in the horn part and drum beat.

Although Vicki Anderson was out of there by the time it came to record Live at the Apollo V. 2, Marva Whitney came in and took on the duet role to keep the arrangement "current". The tempo is back up to "live appopriate" velocity. Think Link

Can't stop thinkin'!

The song came out again in 1973. This time the arrangement is full on mid-tempo funk, with the 5 Royales background "thinks" being brought into a JB version. In fact, this version in some ways, with its relaxed drive and reflective mood, is maybe closest to the original of all the versions JB cut.

And although it's technically not the same tune, there are definite lyrical similarities between the JB penned/produced Lynn Collins almost-a-hit "Think (About It)" and the mighty "Think", particularly in the outro vamp.

James Brown Month: Hank Ballard Hangover - need a cup of Coffee

From the "really random covers" department, here's a Ft. Lauderdale lounge trio from the late 60s doing "Butter Your Popcorn".

James Brown Month: Wall of Browned pt. 2 - Hank Ballard

James Brown was never afraid to give his King/Federal forefathers some - producing singles for the "5" Royales, recording a tribute album to Little Willie John and an album for Bill Doggett. But even if you were a major influence on JB, it doesn't seem like you got to ride for free.

None of his fellow Federales entered JB's circle more deeply than Hank Ballard. According to RJ Smith's Brown biography The One, seeing Ballard and the Midnighters' act was a major influence on the Famous Flames, and Ballard claimed that he repeatedly told Syd Nathan to sign the Famous Flames. So when the man who wrote "the Twist" saw his fortunes failing, Brown stepped in to help him out.

The first record Brown produced for Ballard was a 1963 recut of a Midnighter's classic, "It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day)". The new version adds a vamped up intro and coda to the familiar parts of the song, and Ballard sounds clearly jazzed on the recording - shouting a Joe Tex/Jerry Lee style "THIS IS A HIT!" at the outset and commenting on the general quality of the track 2/3 of the way through.

1n 1968 Hank was put on the JB consciousness train, recording a couple of James's "black power" numbers, including his biggest post-Midnighters hit, "How You Gonna Get Respect (When You Haven't Cut Your Process Yet)". This musically and thematically direct sequel to "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)", laden with some of the heavy didactics of "Don't Be a Dropout", except this time it was all about straight v. curly hair. Ballard delivers the message well, and the Dapps, who backed JB on "I Can't Stand Myself", rock out.

According to RJ Smith, Ballard that tells the story of this song. Apparently Hank and James suddenly found themselves surrounded by Black Panthers, who pulled guns on the two and demanded that Brown stop wearing his hair processed. So in some ways, "How You Gonna Get Respect" was James and Hank buying a little "protection" from the Panthers!

The two modes of James' handling of Ballard established by these two tracks, specifically either updating Ballard's classic sound or turning him into a kind of Brown spokesman, play back and forth across the records they'd make together. 

Ballard released the Brown-produced You Can't Keep a Good Man Down in 1969, and it mainly sticks to updating the Ballard sound. The Dapps are the principal backing band, and their slighly-less-slick-than-the-JBs sound meshes well with Hank's voice. There's a version of "Unwind Yourself", which came out in its definitive version by Marva Whitney, and a remake of the Midnighters' "Teardrops on Your Letter" and a "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" rip, "Thrill on the Hill".  There's also a modernized reinvention of "Sexy Ways" called "You're So Sexy", a snazzy cover of "Slip Away", and a fine addition to the canon of songs about trains that have soul, "Funky Soul Train".

Ballard's next couple of singles, "Butter Your Popcorn" and "Blackenized" were far more Brown-centric, and I'm not sure either Ballard or I feel them very much.  Both are catchy and fun enough, and "Blackenized" has some great lines, but I don't know that either have that leering joy that makes the best Ballard records get up and strut. "Blackenized" in particular sounds like Brown making further political gestures to the Panthers through Ballard.

Mr. Ballard, may I help you with something?

Note JB does the intro his own bad self

Hank's next major appearance in the James Brown universe is without a doubt his weirdest - his two numbers on Get on the Good Foot.  Now, this may hardly be the post to say it in, but I'm going to say it here and say it loud - with one or two exceptions, James Brown's studio long players are chaotic and make little sense. I know he claimed that "Papa Don't Make No Mess", but he was obviously not talking about his studio LPs. It didn't matter whether it was Syd Nathan putting them together haphazardly or James Brown putting them together with total artistic control - they're almost all messes.  JB was a singles artist, even if most of his best post '65 singles should have been 12" 45s, rather than seven inch two-siders.  

Even by his messy standards Get on the Good Foot is outright weird and full of filler.  And even a 13 minute "Please, Please, Please" is not quite as weird as "Funky Side of Town" or "Recitation by Hank Ballard". 

"Funky Side" is as loose and one-take as it gets - James Brown, Bobby Byrd, and Hank Ballard namecheck everybody from themselves, to Bob Dylan, to the Honeycombs, to Isaac Hayes, to, grudgingly, Joe Tex - and the results are just peculiar. First off, no one sounds quite together - the harmonies are random at best, everyone keeps cracking up, none of the psychic connection that exists between Brown and Byrd on, say, "Sex Machine", is present, and Ballard seems incapable of working ahead of the beat - his own signature vocal style was to lay back. 

But nothing is odder than "Recitation by Hank Ballard", which is, essentially a testimonial/advertisement for a record that you presumably have already bought and brought home and are listening to.  For six minutes. The first half is just Hank kind of reading through the song titles, but the second has him ruminating on his career, how he got caught "wandering around the graveyard of losers" and how James Brown was the only one who believed that his talent was still relevant. 

The variety of scenarios about how/why this track was laid down and/or included on the record beggar the imagination, especially since Ballard's voice carries with it equal parts ambivalence and gratitude. Did Hank hear the album, pull up some prerecorded vamp and testify? If so, JB's bottomless ego certainly would not pass up the chance to have one of his heroes say so many nice things about him. Did they need six more minutes for the double LP so James sent Hank in the studio to fill out the space? If so, is there some kind of passive/aggressive sarcasm in some of the lines, or is Hank just so laid back it just sort of sounds that way?  There is a major story in these two's relationship that has yet to be fully unpacked.

Ballard recorded several more singles for People Records in the 70s, and even had a =hit with "From the Love Side" (he even calls himself "Love Side" Ballard in his recitation) in 1972.  Let's wrap this up with a cool live version from Soul Train.

James Brown Month: Godfather in the Garage - The Sonics

While what they really do is make me pine for a full-on Etiquette-fi version of a James Brown number, Norton's meltdown of early Sonics tapes, The Savage Young Sonics, features takes on JB's versions of "Night Train", "Hold It" and "Think".

James Brown Month: You Got to Have a Mother for Me

Happy Mother's Day!

James Brown says it LOUD part 2: More KING ragers

This is the second post in our series spotlighting the the most manic, crazy James Brown sides out there, the ones that sacrifice either traditional rhythm and blues structures OR the repetitive patterns that became funk for sheer rhythmic excitement and agitation. We're calling them James Brown's Rock and Roll for now, but I can't shake the feeling that's not quite right.

First up is another Roy Brown cut - "Love Don't Love Nobody", the b-side to "I Don't Mind" (which, let's just take a moment to note, is further proof that James Brown 45s are the best 45s of all the 45s). On the Messin' with the Blues double CD there's a fascinating false start where you can actually hear King owner Syd Nathan crabbing to the engineer about JB's performance. "Needs more melody" he grumps, and "Don't sing so HARD", he mutters. Aside from being a hilarious example of Brown and Nathan's contentious relationship, it's interesting that the things Brown was going for in this and later recordings (de-emphasized melody, the hardest of all singing) are exactly the things Nathan discourages here.

sorry about the ridiculous graphics on this youtube

The hard singing, lack of melody, and tendency towards rhythmic chaos is also present on 1960's "And I Do Just Want I Want".  Like "Love Don't Love", the primary instrument up top is a wandering guitar riff, but this time Les Buie plays it on the lower strings, giving it a bassier drive. It's an even more spare arrangement, too - a single sax wails a weird atonal figure around a shuffling drumbeat while Brown parties it up philosophic like.  

MOTHER

In 1962, JB released "I've Got Money (Now I Need Love)". He'd produced a more traditional version of this song for Baby Lloyd in 1960, but his own version is much farther out there, with what's been called the first funk drum beat and a manic horn chart that gives him the chance to sing as hard as he could possibly want. 

Tell the truth, Snaggle Tooth!

With their virtual abandonment of melody and a typical song structure, this stuff is as wild and raw as music gets.  In fact, I think the only one term we can use to commodify these tracks:  let's call it Free James Brown.  

James Brown Month: James Brown, Bobby Byrd and the JB's

Live on Italian TV, ca. 1971 - same tour as the Love, Power, Peace live album.

James Brown Month: Your Cheatin' Heart (Hillbilly Avenue)

From the otherwise lightweight Soul on Top LP, here's a unique country/funk/swing hybrid take on "Your Cheatin' Heart."

James Brown Month: Fans of James Brown

Malick Sidibe's photographs of dancers, partiers, stylin' youngsters, and vinyl culture in Bamako, Mali in the mid 60s are some seriously inspirational and funky viewing material.  Great galleries of his stuff are all over the internet, especially this one and this one.  

This photo is called "Fans of James Brown 1965" although I doubt that date is accurate, considering Live at the Apollo Volume II wasn't even recorded until 1967.

Still - killer photo!

James Brown Month: Wall of Browned pt. 1 - Yvonne Fair

It's hard enough making sense of the number of records James Brown put out under his own name, let alone the number of records he "produced".

But that's not going to stop us from highlighting some of the best ones.

In this case, the recordings of Miss Yvonne Fair.

Is it me or does JB look like Ike Turner in this photo?

Sugar Pie DeSanto, Bea Ford, Marva Whitney, Tammy Montgomery, Lynn Collins, Vicki Anderson, Anna King . . . they all served in that vaguely creepy spot as James Brown's opening "girl" act and occasional duet partner.  But none of them produced records I love as much as I love the ones JB concocted for Yvonne Fair and her weird little shrill "ow"'s.  He seems to have lavished extra attention on them, or at least extra organ - maybe Yvonne got lucky that JB was working out his organ playing (not to mention his brand new bag) in the early 60s when he cut her best sides.

Speaking of vaguely creepy, this has got to be the eeriest and least textually convincing version of "You Can Make It If You Try" ever laid down.  Sounds like the aforementioned Ike Turner's "Sinner's Dream" or something.

JB on creepy organ and the rolls of the devil,

 the boatman and the murdered best friend

But the flip is the Mother, a sped-up, guitar blasting version of Annie Laurie's old King classic "It Hurts to Be in Love", complete with start/stop action and proto-Fred Wesley trombone solo.

This double sided gem was actually the second record Brown produced on Fair - the first was this prototype version of "I Got You (I Feel Good)" called "I Found You".  Recorded 3 years before "I Got You" was finally released!

But JB sent his mightiest Yvonne Fair production, "Say Yeah Yeah", over to Dade, his potato-port in a storm when Syd Nathan wasn't feeling up to releasing something because it was too weird or because his stomach was acting up or whatever. Brown had already released the "Mashed Potatoes" series under Nat Kendrick's name at Dade (resulting in the birth of King Coleman) so why not drop a brilliant, years ahead of schedule (and anonymous - Brown's name does not appear on the record) funk bomb on the place, as his last production for the label?  

Fair sings with much more authority on this record than on her earlier ones, and whoever is playing drums taught Clyde Stubblefield a thing or three. Add Brown organ and Famous Flame back up vocals.  Result: major league dance floor monstrosity.

JB produced one more 45 for Yvonne, on Smash, before moving on to other soul sisters.

James Brown Month: Godfather in the Garage part 2 - Link Wray "Hold It"

Link Wray savaging the James Brown Band instro "Hold It".

James Brown says it loud: Chonnie on Chon & I Feel That Old Feeling

It's difficult to say much original about an artist as revered and well documented as JB, but maybe we can reshuffle some old elements and come up with something "new", that in and of itself being a classic James Brown technique.

In addition to James Brown the soul man and James Brown the minister of the new new super heavy funk, James Brown the balladeer and James Brown the smooth jazz organist, James Brown the pop crooner and James Brown the spoken word poet, all of whom I'm sure will show up here in one form or another over the course of the month, there's also James Brown, maker of a totally crazy loud racket, or, until something better comes along, James Brown: Rock and Roller.

Brown got a lot of his impulse to sheer frantic rhythmic excitement from Little Richard (he also got his hair, his first manager, and one of his first bands from Little Richard) so it's only fitting that we start pursuing this vein in the Brown mines with this crazed melding of Little Richard and Roy Brown from 1956, "Chonnie-On-Chon".

Near as I can tell, "Chonnie-On-Chon" is supposed to be roughly the equivalent of "Bama-Lama-Bama-Lou" or "Whop Bop a Lu Bop a Whop Bam Boom", while the verses of the song recall the events of "Good Rockin' Tonight".  

Soul Brother #1's soul brother number one, Bobby Byrd, georgia peaches the keys.

And speaking of way out takes on Brown's influences, his very first session for Federal produced this spectacularly wild version of Wynonie Harris's "I Feel That Old Age Coming On".  The title is tweaked to better reflect the fact that James was disinclined to feel old age (because that would require getting tired).  But, really, the song should have almost been called "I, James Brown" because in his wild shrieks at the beginning of each verse he announces his unprecedented ego to the world by shrieking "I . . . I . . I  . . . I-I-I-I" over and over again.  He's so far gone by the end of the song that he forgets to say "I feel that old feeling coming on" at the end of the song and reverts back to the original lyric.  

Second link from ike ike ike ike ikedyson71's indispensable all JB youtube channel

James Brown Month: BOCKY & THE VISIONS - Godfather in the Garage Part 1

The first in a JB Month Series featuring some of the greatest garage/frat performances of James Brown classics.

Today we've got this classic from Cleveland wailers Bocky and the Visions, hitting it TWO TIMES and taking it into the REDDA with "I Go Crazy" and "Good Good Lovin'".

Ten dollar two sider alert

More about Bocky

James Brown Month History Lesson: Mr. Dynamite Unauthorized

Interesting for expert and novice alike, here's a compilation of documentaries, news clips and TV appearances from Soul Brother Ichiban. The first hour is a British documentary from the late 70s (first 20 minutes, VERY interesting - Brown shoots pool, combs his hair, negotiates a deal on a show, goes to Africa) and an 80s US documentary (a useful career trajectory).   The second hour is shorter TV interviews and features from the 80s when Brown's career was really being reappriased by the mainstream. The Dick Cavett feature with interviews with Little Richard (starts at 1:10) is especially worth watching

 It's a mixed bag, and hardly all new (it eventually starts covering the same material more times than Brown recorded versions of "Please Please"). AND every ten minutes there's an ad for some IT synergistic something or other that stands in marked contrast to whatever funky thing is going on in the documentary. However, it's worth a bookmark and slow troll through the footage. I had to see it all, anyway.

Artist of the Month: SOUL BROTHER ICHIBAN

This month, Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban delves into the unparalleled career of the King of 45s, the DJ's best friend, the man who taught the world to dance . . . with hits like: SUDS! HOT! SUPER SLICK . . .  SUPER BAD!  MONEY WON'T CHANGE YOU!  CHONNIE ON CHON!  AND I DO JUST WHAT I WANT!  TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME!  Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Licking Stick, Brother Rapp Rapp himself . . . the hardest rocking man in history . . . James Brown!

We open our ceremonies with this amazing choral tribute to the king, the king of soul, performed by a group of Rochester, New York elementary school students, led by their teacher Nancy Dupree on an album recorded for Smithsonian-Folkways called Ghetto Reality. 

Give the poor little shoe shine boy some!

Make sure your bad self joins us for all of JB's birth month for rare tracks, videos & photos, an interview with RJ Smith, author of The One, the newly published Brown biography, and much more.  

Roger Miller Month: Roy Clark - The Green Green Grass of Home

We posted a couple of different versions of this song by Joe Tex last month, so I thought it only appropriate that we post this Homer and Jethro-esque rewrite of "Green Green Grass of Home", written by Roger & Roy, and performed on the only really good Roy Clark album I know about, Roy Clark Live! on Dot, ca. 1972.

"That's Roger's.  I got it from him. I added a few lines to it but the whole premise of the song was his." Roy Clark

Green Green Grass

Joe Tex Month, Day 29: Cast the first stone

Here it is, the final day of Joe Tex Month, and we have arrived at Joe Tex's final LP - He Who Is Without Funk Cast the First Stone. After this record, he had a few 12" singles before his untimely death at 49, from a heart attack.

Despite being relatively clean for his entire life, apparently Joe was partying too hard in the late 70s and early 80s. According to Buddy Killen, "During his last four years he staged a marathon of self-abuse. It was as if he was trying to make up for lost time."

Some of the 70s tendency to overindulgence perhaps could explain the inconsistent nature of He Who Is Without Funk.

For the most part the songs are just a generic ode to the power of funk and there's more relentless vamping than camping it up. There's a disco remake of "Hold What You're Got". But there is one true, crazed bit of Texian genius, THE TITLE TRACK. It ties in many of the strands of JT's career and serves as a fitting closer to the month.

There is a woman at a disco. She has been dancing. She's started to sweat. And she's started to stink. The rest of the dancers, repulsed by her body odor, decide to stone her to death to get rid of her foulness. Suddenly Joe appears as some kind of Disco Jesus, and teaches them all a lesson in dancefloor etiquette. He argues that all who enter the disco sweat, and all who sweat get "funky", and so he who is without funk should cast the first stone. "Hit her with the rock!" He challenges. "Bust upside her head if you can!" Remember - this is a man who has been busting people upside their head since his first single. You can't say Joe didn't learn a thing or two in his life in soul. 

Unable to argue with this logic, the dancers agree to dance together in stinky peace, and JT leaves them with the 10 commandments of the dancefloor.

And now, because I have been to the mountain this last month, I've come back with those 10 commandments, slightly retranslated to be more Ichiban appropriate. Hey, retranslating scripture to the advantage of the translating agency is common practice, so I figure I'm golden.

BEHOLD & LIVETH BY THESE WORDS, THOU ICHIBANNERS:

"1. If thou did not want to get funky, thou never should have got on the dancefloor.
2. Surely thou kneweth thou wouldeth get funky, if ever thy got on the dancefloor.
3. We all sweateth and doeth get stanky whenever we get on a dancefloor.
4. We should not hate, love thee one another, get on down on the dancefloor.
5. Do not stone, love thee one another, get on down on the dancefloor.
6. Now the time cometh, and so I must goeth - to check on the other dancefloors.
7. When I returneth, I want you all to be getting down on the dancefloor.
8. Behold I cometh when thou not knoweth, so get on down on the dancefloor.
9. The music is funky, and it sure is goodeth, get on down on the dancefloor.
10. Peace be unto thee my people, get on down on the dancefloor.

FUNK UP THE DANCEFLOOR!"

What can be said in response to that but AMEN?

Thanks to all the great Ichiban bloggers and commentators for teaching me so much about my favorite soul artist this month. It's been great to witness the power of an aggregate group of bloggers first-hand.  


We now return you to your regularly scheduled jungle 45 of the week, already in progress.

Joe Tex Month Day 28: The Disco Years

After coming out of retirement in 1975, Joe had a string of singles on Dial, but it wasn't until 1978, when  he jumped labels one final time, to make his final comeback, the always suprising Bumps and Bruises. The sound is pure late 70s soul, but the songs and themes are vintage JT. While it may not look it, this is probably the best record JT recorded post-Happy Soul. The album was a hit, largely because of its lead track, "Ain't Gonna Bump No More with No Big Fat Woman", the other side of the coin of "Skinny Legs and All". Could Joe find no middle ground in his choice of dance partners?

The rest of the album is filled with similar songs sending up the 70s - Tex style. The songs are back to being wonderfully specific instead of the more generic moments on parts of I Gotcha & Spills the Beans. Several songs are credited to songwriter Benny Lee McGinty, who gets several co-writing credits with Tex on his next two albums. 

"Jump Bad" in particular is a classic piece of 70s jive storytelling - it's the tale of Run Down the hustler getting royally whooped upside the head by a grandma who doesn't take kindly to him accosting her in front of the check cashing place. Tex is a comedic virtuoso here, playing Run Down, the Grandma, and the narrator. 

"We Held On" is a classic Tex soul country number, with a similar melody to "Games People Play", and it should have been a hit. There's also songs where Joe decides to have an operation to remove his hands and one where one of his buddies dances with a "sissy" while preaches tolerance. Side one never stops giving it up. One major problem - there's only one rap on the whole record, a spoken intro on "There's Something Wrong", but it's not by Joe! Who the heck dares to "rap" on a Joe Tex record but JT?

His second Epic record was Rub Down. Early collaborator James Booker was on the session, and the title track has Joe admitting that he can't dance as good as his old rival James Brown. So the roots are in place, and there are a couple of fine raps, particularly on the freaky slow jam version of "I Gotcha".  The songs, however, aren't quite up to snuff overall, and this one fulls into the category of FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY.

JT fittingly returned to Dial for his final LP. More on that tomorrow - the FINAL DAY of Joe Tex Month. Tune in for one more mind boggling piece of wisdom.

28 Rounds and Still Swinging!

Ed. note: "I Mess Up Everything I Get My Hands On", "Leaving You Dinner" (mp3s)  Also from Bumps & Bruises.

Joe Tex month, day 27: The Funk Years

Well, Ray Charles must have been right, because in 1972 Joe had his biggest hit yet, "I Gotcha"! This song fully launched Joe into the funk era, topping the R&B chart and hitting #2 on the pop.  

The album had a number of "I Gotcha" soundalikes and a few ballads. It's not peak Tex, but it's not a bad record either. I think, however, I prefer Spills the Beans.

Spills the Beans was the last JT album before his temporary retirement. It's more of a return to traditional Tex sound, with a couple of funk numbers thrown in to remind you that this is the "I Gotcha" guy. The more contemporary numbers reflect the "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" style of social consciousness, like "A Mother's Prayer" and the apocalyptic "Living the Last Days". 

But more in keeping with Joe's strengths are the hilarious "King Thaddeus", one of the all time great songs about a rooster, right up there with Sam the Sham's "The Cockfight", and, best of all, "Papa's Dream", the song that inspired the album's title and weird cover. It's right up there with "Grandma Mary" in terms of being a great reminiscence of his time growing up, and is tragic and uplifting at the same time. 

And it was covered by Johnny Cash, ca. 1975, as "Look at them Beans".

In 1972, on the heels of his biggest hit, Joe retired from the recording industry, changed his name to Jusef Hazziez, and devoted his life to the Muslim faith, spending his time preaching in the service of Elijah Muhammad. However, upon Muhammad's death in 1975, Tex secured permission from the church to get back into the game.

An initial 1975 session yielded some singles and several unreleased tracks, comped together on the rather fine 2 LP collection of rarities Charly issued in the mid 80s, different strokes. This record is well worth tracking down, as it has material dating back from '65 that can only be found here. 

Taken together, the 1975 tracks make for an OK album on the level of Spills the Beans. But it wasn't the full bore comeback material he was looking for. That would have to wait until '78, where Joe would prove he still had a virtually inexhaustable supply of crazed novelty songs about women with unusual proportions.

Bonus cut: here's Austin rock and rollers The Hard Feelings, featuring Joe Tex afficianado John Schooley, whomping the stuffing out of "You Said a Bad Word" from I Gotcha.

Bonus click: Domino9, who's been contributing a number of great observations and corrections to Joe Tex month in the comments sections, has been assembling a website devoted to the life and music of the Dapper Rapper.  Check it out.

Joe Tex Month Day 26: Don Covay's Temptation Was Too Strong

Fellow Soul Clansman Don Covay pays tribute to the big JT.

Temptation Was Too Strong